Howzit Taste?

Wine primer, part II

Before we talk any more about wine itself, we should spend a few minutes talking about tasting. If you're not tasting, after all, you shouldn't be reading! The point of tasting, as opposed to chugging, slurping or downing, is to engage the wine with all of your senses. This is part of the appeal of wine — it asks that you interact with it, and generally encourages, stimulates and satisfies those who do.

As you pour the wine into your glass, take care to fill it only about a third of the way up. We'll talk more about glassware later, but this will generally correspond to the outermost point in the curvature of just about any wine glass. You'll see in a second why this matters.

Looks Aren't Everything, But They Count

The first sense we engage is sight. Unless we're drinking out of a black glass, we can't help but do this, at least on a cursory level. There is nothing quite like the thrill of salmon-colored rosé in the glass. First impressions count!

If we dig deeper, however, we can assess some preliminaries about the wine we're about to taste. To start this process, tilt your glass over a white napkin or sheet of paper. While it is not a huge deal as a beginner, advanced blind tasters get vital clues about the wine from this step. Some things to note:

Effervescence, cloudiness, particulates — all these are things to note, but not necessarily be alarmed by. Most of the time, they are effects of wine-making choices, rather than marks of a flawed wine. Combined with off aromas & flavors, however, they could signal a flaw.

Legs or tears — the streaks left on the side of your glass when you swirl or tilt it. Much is made of this by popular culture. It is indicative of viscosity, which is affected by the alcohol level. That's about it.

Color — Perhaps the biggest thing you're looking for at this point. The color of wine is best discerned at the edge, especially for reds. You can get clues as to age, grape variety, general region, and even the condition of storage.

For whites: 
Some varieties tend to yellowing more than others. A light green generally signals youth, but varies by grape variety. More pronounced color is also a sign of aging or improper storage. Brown is generally a bad color for still white wines, but there are exceptions!

For reds: 
The spectrum here is a bit wider, obviously. Different grape varieties have their color palettes. Contrary to what some may think, depth of color is not a stand-in for quality! There are wines that are meant to be light, almost translucent at the rim. The on-going craze for California Pinot Noir is exciting in its own right, but you should be suspicious of Pinot that is full-bleed color to the edge of the glass. Pinot is meant to be light, not dense & opaque like Syrah. With age, red wines also tend to lose some of their brightness — fading to brick colors — as well as color concentration. Purple hues tend to denote young wines.

Others:
Sherry, madeira, port, and other types of wines will have their own color spectra. Don't necessarily be alarmed by brown wines. 

Smells Kinda Funny

Next, we smell. This is my favorite aspect of wine tasting. Seriously! I could smell a great wine in a glass all day long. You've probably had the experience of having a cold, when everything tastes like cardboard because your nose is plugged up. That's how important smell is to tasting wine.

Smelling wine is quite simple. You just stick your nose into the glass and take a big whiff. Most beginners are shy about really getting in there and smelling — don't be! Try different angles or different sides of the glass. I learned from smelling spirits that the alcohol smells concentrate at the bottom of the glass (when the glass is tilted toward you), and the fruit aromas rise to the top. Since wine is much less alcoholic, this effect isn't so pronounced, but you will notice differences.

While smelling is simple, describing what you smell can be quite a challenge. Many people have developed aides for this, including UC Davis professor emeritus Ann C. Noble's wine aroma wheel, which has been widely imitated. A free knock-off can be found at Vinography. There are also kits available for hundreds or thousands of dollars to help you discern one scent from another. I say hooey! Go to your nearest farmer's market and pick up fruits & vegetables to smell. Pay attention to your every day smell surroundings. Soon enough, you'll be able to pick out nuanced aromas, too. See my previous post for more on this topic.

Less Filling, Tastes Great

Finally, there's the tasting. Tasting wine after having looked at it and smelled it first is like stretching a wrinkled painting over a newly tightened frame. All of the sudden, the visual hints that you've gathered and scents you've discerned come together in one comprehensive picture.

To taste, take about a teaspoon or so of wine into your mouth — no more than you can hold in your cupped tongue. Swirl it around, like mouthwash. Again, don't be embarrassed! This is what wine folks do. Next is the trickiest part. Without swallowing, draw a breath with a mouthful of wine. Don't worry — most of us lost some wine the first time we tried this! It gets easier to do, and eventually you'll be a pro. Initially, whoever, you might want to ask a wine friend for a demonstration if you've never seen this.  The idea is to combine the tasting and smelling in one act that gives you a deeper taste than the two do separately.

While there are only five dimensions of taste: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami (savoriness) — hence the importance of smelling — tasting wine gives us a tactile component that is essential to our appreciation and evaluation of wine. Much is written about mouth-feel in the wine press. It's fairly simple — how does the wine feel in your mouth? Is it smooth, watery, or tannic? We'll discuss some of these components some other time. You should also notice where the flavor is concentrated — front, mid, or back palate? As you get more adept at it, you will also be able to discern acidity and talk about its presence, absence and balance. Finally, whether you spit or swallow, you will notice how long the flavors linger in your mouth. This is called the finish or length. The longer the better.

A quick word about spitting. Again, it may be something you are self-conscious about at first, and it may take you a while to master a clean, straight spit, but keep at it. Spitting is the only way you will keep your palate fresh for tasting multiple wines. If you're drinking, however, don't spit!

There is a lot of material here, and it really only scratches the surface. But you can't say the homework isn't fun: Interact! Grab a wine friend, buy her (or him) a bottle of wine to share with you. Taste, using the format above. Write down your observations. Rinse glass, repeat. One sense that isn't engaged here is hearing. That's why we clink glasses when we toast. Cheers!

Some wines to try
Viña Nora Albariño 2005
Routas Rouviere Rose 2006 (full disclosure — the company I work for sells this wine in CA)
Vinum Cellars "Pets" Petite Syrah 2005

Links
Wine Aroma Wheel
Vinography Wine Adjectives
My Post on Free Smells